


All Night

by homeros



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 00:40:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20733398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homeros/pseuds/homeros
Summary: In which Sokka tries to make up for his regrettable mistakes.





	1. Chapter 1

You should've been aware.

You should've started to notice. You should've seen it coming.

You should've _known._

Was it not clear enough when he started working more hours? Was it not obvious when you buried your face in his neck and smelled a perfume redder than yours?

It was all happening right in front of you, but you were blind to it.

You looked at the ground as he said he was coming home late again. You shut your eyes as you heard him whisper to someone on the phone not to him call again when he's with you. You turned around when he refused you in the bedroom _\- 'Babe, I'm tired'_\- as he did so often.

The more you tried to make a home out of the man you chose to be yours forever, the more his doors closed. So you were left standing in the hallway of your life as someone very uninvited.

Some quiet evenings, when he was off to God knows where (or who), you would think over a glass of whiskey how amusing it was how he lied - how hilarious it was how you believed him.

And there was not even the slightest sign of disbelief in you when he muttered in your skin that you were the moon of his life and that he would kill a man for you.

But it is the moon that turns around the earth, after all, and not the other way around.

Or so you had realized at last.

As denial dissolved and acceptance came, yearning for the truth became an ever so nagging feeling.

The words were on your lips, ready to set flame to the gasoline of his lies. _Are you cheating on me? Are you cheating on me? Are you?_

One of the things about Sokka you loved most was the way he'd value traditions.

He went to war in traditional uniform and face paint. He came back and gave you a betrothal necklace and married you soon after in traditional Water Tribe style. He loved you and in tradition of his father - which he was so, _so _angry at - came home at 3 a.m. and lied to you.

His father and the women beside his mother were a subject he would never talk about.

Was he too outraged to speak? Or did he feel too guilty?

You couldn't tell so one day he came home and you decided to ask him to look you in the eye.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sokka tries to make up for his regrettable mistakes.

Droplets of water fell one by one and you tried to count them.

You sat in the tub, knees pulled close to your chest, a nervous anticipation filling your throat. Anxiously, you waited.

Finally he sat down behind you on a small stool.

He sighed. You felt his body heath on your back. Your eyes met by accident in the mirror and you sobbed.

'_Don't think of me as a monster_', he began.

From behind, he brought his calloused hands to your face, tracing the hairline at your temples with his fingers.

'_God knows it's you I love._'

Then he went downwards, behind your ears, touched your neck and you shrank.

His palms on your tensed back, hushing you as you silently wept.

'_You should forget their names and faces_', he said and he bathed you until you did so.

A process began that moment; he slowly pulled the edges of the scar in your chest together, right where he'd cut you. The skin was still bloody and raw.

He cupped your cheek and you leaned into his touch. He kissed your hair.

And as he said, you were ready to forget.

But not yet to forgive.


End file.
